Of Witches and Ghosts
by Drk Phoenyx
Summary: Dani sets out to forge a life of her own, out of her "cousin's" shadow. But as terrorists threaten her new life, she comes out of retirement to help the Young Avengers. Set during Children's Crusade and after Danny Phantom series/no PP. Standard Pairings
1. Kate

_"First, hugs and kisses to my beta TimeWitch'93._

_Inspired by Jump's Phantom by DaughterofDemeter123_

_I borrowed heavily from vol. 1 of Avengers: The Children's Crusade, but you do not need to have read it to understand this story. This is my take on the search for Scarlet Witch._

_Pairings: Eli/Kate, Cassie/Jonah, and Billy/Teddy_

_I do not own Young Avengers or Danny Phantom_

**Chapter One: Kate**

Kate's day had started out well enough. Her father woke her up early in the morning to get breakfast. Derek Bishop was a very busy and powerful man and Kate relished the rare opportunity to see her father before work.

The phone call came in just as Kate was saying goodbye to her father. She picked it up on the second ring, "Hello?"

"Kate, its Eli, we need you downtown. There are some crazy extremists making a scene in front of the Baxter Building."

"I'll be there as quickly as possible," replies Kate stepping back into her home to grab her costume and equipment.

"I'll send Billy to pick you up," answers Eli and the phone line went dead.

"Great! Can't the bad guys wait until after lunch?" mumbled Kate. She had never been a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. At least she had gotten a decent breakfast.

Kate entered her bedroom and immediately moved to her closet. Shoving racks of designer clothing aside, she found the safe. She keyed in the combination and inspected the contents. All of her jewelry was crammed into a corner to make room for her costume. She removed the carefully folded dark purple leather and quickly changed. She strapped on her gloves and battle staves and she carefully removed a long metal toolbox from the floor of her closet. Some of her equipment was far too big to fit in the safe. She inserted a key into the simple padlock and removed her bow, quiver, arrows, sword, and boots.

Kate had just finished adjusting the white scarf around her neck when Billy and Teddy popped in. "Warn a girl next time," she admonished. "I _just_ finished changing."

Teddy grinned wickedly and Billy simply rolled his eyes. "Ewe! Naked girls," replied Billy playfully. He then turned and planted a smoldering kiss on his boyfriend's lips.

Kate sighed. It was pointless to worry about those two; they clearly only had eyes for each other. She playfully punched Billy on the arm and grabbed her dark designer sunglasses from her bedside table. "Let's go, I'm pretty sure Eli's not going to wait for us."

Kate and Teddy moved to stand closer to Billy as the raven haired teen began to chant. _"We want to go to the Baxter Building. We want to go to the Baxter Building. We want…"_

Kate suddenly found herself in the middle of a tour group in one of Reed Richard's labs. At least a dozen alarms sounded and thirty pairs of eyes turned upward to stare at their costumes. "Billy, maybe you should be more specific next time."

The group of first graders moved to huddle around their teacher. "We don't want any tttrouble," stammered the teacher. "Please don't hurt the children."

Teddy leaned down to reassure the kids, but all he succeeded in doing was scaring the children further. One little girl with a pink stuffed bunny started pulling frantically on the teacher's skirt. "What is he doing here?" she whispered just a little too loudly. "My daddy said all of the bad Skrulls were gone."

The harried teacher glared daggers at Teddy. She gripped the little girl's hand and reassured her, "This is the Baxter Building, the Fantastic Four's headquarters, I'm sure they'll be here any moment."

Teddy didn't get a chance to defend himself before the group found them covered in little red lights. The building's security had arrived and there were at least a dozen high powered rifles pointed at the team.

"Hold on just a minute!" yelled Billy. "We're the good guys!"

"Put your weapons on the ground slowly," called the security team leader.

Billy and Teddy slowly raised their hands while Kate removed most of her arsenal. Three security officers broke off from the main group and proceeded to frisk the teens. Kate groaned as the officer found the dagger she had left tucked at the small of her back.

"What is going on here?" called a distinctively feminine voice. The crowd of security officers parted like the Red Sea to reveal Carol Danvers, Warbird.

Kate let out a sigh of relief, "I'm glad you're here. Now, can you get us out of here?"

Warbird bristled a little bit at Kate's tone. She turned and addressed the head of Baxter Building security. "The Fantastic Four are on a mission in space. Don't blame these guys for doing their job. They kids are with us. I'll take it from here."

"But Ma'am, S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol concerning Skrulls states that…" the security officer stopped when he noticed the dark look on Warbird's face.

Kate's face turned a bright shade of purple. She opened her mouth to retort but Billy brought the heel of his boot down on Kate's foot. Kate bit back a yelp and turned to face Billy. The young sorcerer shook his head and nodded towards Warbird.

"Why don't you let me worry about S.H.I.E.L.D. protocol? Besides _Hulkling_ here is only half Skrull and a member of the Young Avengers."

The security director looked like he wanted to continue the argument, but one of his security team grabbed his elbow and pulled him away. The security team dispersed with the exception of one guard. The last guard turned to Warbird, "Please forgive my brother. He lost his wife and son during the Skrull invasion."

Warbird said nothing and simply nodded. The remaining guard quickly left.

"Thank you," Teddy said. "For sticking up for me, I mean."

Warbird did her best to look indifferent. "Hmph. I didn't do it for you. We could use your help outside with crowd control."

**XxxLine BreakxxX **

Kate stepped outside the Baxter Building and hung her head. Putting on the tights seemed so pointless sometimes. No matter how many idiot she and her friends threw in jail, there was always another one waiting in the wings. This time the Moron of the Week Award goes out to a group of trailer trash rejects carrying automatic rifles and reciting Bible verses out of context. Kate silently wondered who taught them the verses; she was willing to bet half or more of these hillbilly rednecks were illiterate. Most of the citizenry had fled, but there were still a few brain donors that thought a shiny new television was more important than their personally safety. Kate scowled as she saw a man exiting an electronics store with his young son and an armload of stereo equipment.

Warbird tracked Kate's gaze and put a restraining hand on her shoulder. "Let it go. We have more pressing matters to attend to."

For some reason that only served to make Kate angrier. She shrugged out of Warbird's grip and rushed the man with the stereos. Kate drew her sword as she ran. She nabbed the looter by his wrist and savagely twisted it behind his back. The stereo equipment tumbled to the ground with a loud crash, but Kate wasn't finished yet. She wrestled the man to the pavement and pressed the blade to his throat. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

The man beneath Kate's sword reeked of fear and sweat. He motioned to the boy with his eyes and a slight tilt of his head. He wanted the boy to run, but the boy seemed rooted to the spot. Kate wasn't sure if it was because of loyalty or fear. Kate angrily twisted the man's arm harder and he let out a brief howl of pain.

Warbird approached and placed a hand on Kate's shoulder but did not apply pressure. "That's enough Hawkeye. Let's go," she commanded.

Fury burned in Kate's eyes as she gave the man's arm one final savage twist. "Take your son and go," she spat. Kate turned and faced Warbird, "I know. I know. Bigger fish to fry. But this idiot brought his son into this mess. What kind of a parent does that?"

Warbird shook her head, "I'm afraid that I don't have any easy answers for you."

Kate took a deep steadying breath, "Alright, who is it this time?"

Warbird motioned for Teddy and Billy to move closer. Once she was sure that she had everyone's attention, she began, "I'm only going to explain this once, so listen up." The Young Avengers nodded solemnly.

"They're a new paramilitary group calling themselves the Sons of the Serpent. They're not very well trained, but they have some serious weaponry. The Avengers will handle them. I want you guys to stay out of the way and handle crowd control. You got that?"

Teddy smiled and nodded. "Yes Ma'am."

Warbird nodded once and took off skyward. Kate and Billy turned and stared at Teddy incredulously.

"What? There's no way she was going to leave us alone until we agreed. Now, are you ready to go bust some heads?" Teddy asked.

Billy laughed and gave his boyfriend a quick hug. "What are we waiting for? Come on Kate."

Teddy let out a savage roar and the couple launched themselves into the fray. Kate looked around until she found a fire escape located nearby. She quickly scrambled up the rusty old ladder. She found a good vantage point on a landing about three stories up. Kate checked the railing to make sure it was secure and then strung her bow. Just in time too. Kate sighted along her first arrow and took out an assailant creeping up on Billy. The militiaman went down with an arrow in his shoulder. Billy took out the other two opponents and waved to Kate.

The boys quickly disarmed the combatants and Billy used a spell to tie them upside down from a lamppost. Teddy was dusting off his hands and Kate had just reached the bottom of the fire escape, when they all heard another explosion followed by automatic gunfire. The trio followed the noise around the corner. To their right and about a block over there were close to forty soldiers surrounding Spiderman. Kate wasn't sure what prompted her to look up, but it was a good thing that she did. On a terrace on the adjacent building was a soldier with a rocket launcher. Kate quickly notched another arrow and took him out.

"Let's…" Kate was cut off by the sound of more gunfire to their left. A local hoodlum was taking advantage of the chaos; he was in the progress of robbing a local restaurant owner. "You two go and help Spiderman. I'll help the shopkeeper."

Billy and Teddy took off down the street. Meanwhile, Kate quietly moved towards the restaurant. It was a small Chinese take-out restaurant. It was too early in the morning and there probably weren't more than three or four employees. Kate was willing to bet that she could find the service entrance in the adjoining alley. _"Bingo," _Kate thought. She tested the handle and found it unlocked. She found herself in the kitchen. Behind one of the large stoves there was a small girl hiding. Kate raised a finger to her lips warning the little girl to be silent. She made slow progress through the kitchen, but managed to make it to the front counter unseen. Kate positioned herself behind the counter and the nearest thief. The thief had a gun aimed at the restaurant owner's chest. Fortunately, he was facing away from Kate. Unfortunately, the restaurant owner was and when Kate slowly slid upwards to take out the thief the owner's eyes widened. The thief turned around just in time and the blow Kate had aimed at the back of the man's head fell uselessly on his shoulders.

The man managed to get in a few decent punches before Kate managed to take him down. The last punch had probably been harder than necessary, but damn it; Kate was pissed. Kate rubbed her sore jaw as she crouched down to tie the hands and feet of the unconscious thief. The owner and his wife were thanking her exuberantly in Chinese. Kate wasn't sure if they could understand her or not, but she addressed them anyways. "You may want to tie him to something else as well. With everything going on out there, I don't know how long it will be before the cops can get here."

"Well isn't this cute," a voice from behind Kate asked. She stiffened and the voice continued, "Put your hands where I can see them, Gorgeous."

Kate slowly lifted her hands and turned around. Three of the soldiers from the Sons of the Serpent were in the restaurant. Two of them had weapons trained on her and the other had his aimed at the restaurant owner.

"Don't move. Don't even blink," the same soldier commanded. "Well what do we have here boys? Maybe today's not a complete waste. Bet ya the commander will be real pleased when we bring back the head of one of the capes."

"But Boss, she's such a pretty thing. Can't we have a little fun with this one first, Boss," asked one of the other soldiers.

The first soldier shook his head, "Capes are too much trouble. You know that. If you're looking for a plaything, I think I saw the owner's daughter on the way in." The other soldier smiled to reveal tobacco stained teeth.

Kate was going to be sick. She had been careless. Now, these whack jobs were going to kill her and rape the little girl. The daughter couldn't be more than nine years old. There's no way Kate could reach them before they can pull the triggers and at this range it's impossible to miss. Kate closed her eyes and bit back tears of anger and frustration.

There was a loud crack and pain blossomed from her left arm. She couldn't believe it; the soldier had missed and only grazed her arm. Kate blinked back tears and noticed a black and white figure darting between her attackers. Kate's savior quickly took out the three soldiers and turned to Kate. "Are you alright?"

Kate nodded, "Just grazed me."

Just then, a fourth head poked his head through the back entrance and started speaking rapidly into a radio headset.

"You didn't take out the sentinel!" Kate yelled.

"Well, sorry! I saw you through the front window and I didn't bother with using the door!"

Kate wasn't sure what that meant. Hell, Kate wasn't even sure if she _wanted_ to know what that meant. If her rescuer hadn't used a door and the window was still intact then how did she get in?

"Come on," yelled the new girl interrupting Kate's train of thought.

Kate's new friend rushed toward the door as the sentinel aimed and fired. The shot had to have missed, because it harmlessly struck the stove behind her. _"These guys have the marksmen skills of Storm Troopers,"_ thought Kate.

Kate followed behind her monochromatic rescuer. The sentinel was already unconscious on the ground. "Who are you?" Kate asked.

The girl smirked, "Dani with an 'I' and right now, I'm the girl saving your butt. I think any other questions can wait until later." She motioned towards the main street where another dozen soldiers were coming to avenge their fallen comrades.

The two teenaged heroines moved to stand against the building. The last thing they needed was for their assailants to surround them. Kate stood shoulder to shoulder with the white haired superhero. Kate inadvertently touched Dani's shoulder and was shocked to find that she was freezing. Kate was about to ask Dani if she was okay when she looked down and noticed that Dani had no legs or feet. Kate was dumbstruck. _"How is this possible? I didn't notice that she had no legs in the restaurant. Just what is she?"_

The soldiers fanned out in a semicircle, trapping the girls against the building. Dani clamps a hand around Kate's arm. Kate looks up to find Dani grinning wickedly. She holds a finger to her lips and then disappears.

A shout comes from the soldiers. "Where'd they go?"

"_What do they mean by 'they'? Dani's the only one that disappeared," _Kate wondered, but then she looked down. She was invisible too. Dani guided them through the mob of soldiers until they stood about ten feet behind them. Dani let go of Kate's hand and attacked as the duo became visible again. Dani raised a glowing green fist and a beam shot out and caught the attackers completely unawares.

Kate's jaw dropped as Dani flattened the soldiers. "What are you doing? We're not supposed to kill them!"

"Chill, will you. They're fine, just unconscious. They'll wake up in a few hours with nothing more than a really nasty headache," Dani said snidely.

Kate approached the nearest soldier and checked for a pulse. Reasonably confident that Dani was telling the truth, Kate walked back to thank Dani. "Thanks, you saved our lives back there. What are you? If I didn't know any better I'd swear that you're a ghost. But there's no such thing, right?"

"My story is long and complicated. Nothing personal, but I don't even know you," Dani answered.

"I'm Hawkeye. My friends and I are the Young Avengers. We could use your help with the rest of the soldiers," Kate said and looked at Dani expectantly.

The pale teen looked reluctant. A variety of emotions flashed across her face before she finally answered with a shaky voice. "I'll help, but just this once. I can't afford to have my picture show up in the papers, so if reporters show up I'm out of here."

Kate thought the request odd, but nodded anyhow. "Thanks."

"I'll scout ahead," Dani called as she flew around the corner. She was headed in the direction of most of the gunfire. Kate ran to catch up as Dani rounded the second corner joining the fray. Suddenly, there's a brilliant white light and Kate's forced to cover her eyes. Reaching the battleground she finds all of the soldiers unconscious.

"Dani!" Kate called. "Dani!"

**XxxLine BreakxxX**

_Until next time, thank you for reading and please review._

_Chapter 2: Billy_


	2. Billy & Teddy

_As always, many thanks go to my beta, TimeWitch'93._

_I've read a good deal of fanfic involving Dani. Popular opinion is that she's a couple of years younger than Danny. I don't remember the cartoon actually mentioning that, so I'm going to say Danny and Dani are the same age (or at least they appear to be, Dani is a test tube baby after all). Dani is just short. Why? Because I intend to bring in Danny later and I want my characters to be roughly the same age. _

_This fic builds off of vol. 1 of Avengers: The Children's Crusade. I've included enough of the key events for those of you who haven't read it. I've also taken a few liberties with the story. If you have read it, bear with me. Some of this will seem familiar to you, but it does go off track about halfway through this chapter. _

_I don't own Young Avengers or Danny Phantom._

**Chapter Two: Billy & Teddy**

Billy brushed the dust off his tights. He and Teddy had just finish helping Spiderman take out a group of soldiers. Spiderman was currently webbing the last of them for the police to deal with later. Billy surveyed the area but couldn't find any further signs of conflict.

As if reading Billy's mind, Teddy spoke up, "We seem to have gotten separated from the main group. Do you know which way to go to rejoin the others?"

Spiderman cocked his head quizzically but before he could formulate a witty response an explosion sounded three blocks away. "Stupid question," Billy mutters. Spiderman gestures in dramatic fashion toward the smoke plume.

Billy and Teddy raced towards the action. Approaching the scene they find their teammates already engaged. Stature is at the edge of the fighting trying to waylay a truck convoy of reinforcements. Vision is with her attempting to disarm the bombs in the back of a couple of the trucks. At the center of the fighting, Warbird and Patriot are fighting the mercenaries hand-to-hand. Meanwhile, Speed keeps dipping into the fray to disarm and/or knock out enemies.

Teddy notices Eli beginning to falter and yells to Billy, "Stay in the air and cover me! I'm going in to help Eli." Teddy then charges into the mob heading straight for Patriot and Warbird.

"I want to control lightning. I want to control lightning…" Billy took to the sky cutting a path before Teddy. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to matter how many of the mercenaries he took out, there were still plenty more to take their places.

Teddy had long since stopped playing nice. He could hear bones snapping as he pushed his way through the mob. He nearly tore one mercenaries arm off when he noticed the mercenary taking aim at Billy. Progress was painstakingly slow, but eventually he reached Eli's position.

"Glad you two could finally make it!" Eli called.

"We couldn't let you have all of the fun," Teddy replied.

"Where's Kate?" Eli asked. "Warbird said that she was with you."

"She's taking care of some mercs turned looters. She'll be with us shortly," Teddy answered.

"You left her alone?" Eli accused.

"Relax," Teddy replied. "There were only two of them."

"Enough chit chat!" Warbird ordered. "Shut up and fight."

"Yes Ma'am!" Teddy said throwing up a mock salute. Eli just frowned.

An explosion echoed across the square and most of the fighting seemed to halt for a few moments as everyone searched for the source. Vision emerged from the remains of the vehicle envoy. He and Cassie were both covered in ash and soot, but otherwise appeared fine.

Eli opened a comm line, "Vision, report!"

"I've neutralized the bombs!" Vision answered.

"Casualties?" Eli inquired.

"None," Cassie answered, coughing. "Some of us got a little singed, but we're okay."

"Alright, find a way to contain the men from the convoy and then come help out here," Eli ordered. He made a mental note to discuss with Vision the proper way to "neutralize" weapons later.

"No!" Billy screamed from above. Looking for the cause of Billy's distress, Eli found that one on the mercenaries had a knife pressed against Teddy's throat.

Suddenly, Eli was thrown back as a concussion wave tore through the square. Billy dropped like a stone, but fortunately Warbird—who managed to keep her feet—caught him before his head hit the pavement.

"Holy crap!" exclaimed Teddy. He pulled the now unconscious mercenary off of his chest and checked for a pulse. Relieved to find the man alive he then attempted to wake him. Turning to Eli, he called, "He's alive, but I can't wake him."

"Same over here," replied Eli as he disarmed the other mercenaries in the immediate vicinity.

Warbird looked dumbstruck, unmoving she simply stared at Billy with a horrified expression.

Eli came up to Teddy. "I just got reports from the rest of the team. All of the mercenaries dropped at the same time. EMTs are saying that they're all comatose."

"Billy, what have you done?" Teddy whispered softly.

**XxxLine BreakxxX**

Teddy flew Billy to Stark Towers while the rest of the team assisted with cleanup. Jarvis set the two boys up in one of the guest rooms and left a plate of sandwiches. Teddy took a moment to call Billy's parents to "explain" Billy's absence before eating.

Movement on the bed signaled Billy's return to the land of the living. He moved to sit up, groaning and holding his head. "Did anyone get the number of the bus that hit me?"

"You overexerted your powers," Teddy explained and shoved a sandwich into Billy's hands. "Here, eat something. It'll help."

Billy took a large bite out of the sandwich. "Hmmm. I think I'm in love."

"Does this mean that you'll be leaving me for Jarvis?" Teddy asked trying to sound offended.

Billy grinned and wolfed down two more sandwiches. "So what happened? Did Sentry show up or something?"

"You don't remember anything?" Teddy asked and Billy shook his head 'no'. "You went nuts and put all of the mercenaries in a coma."

Billy dropped the last half-eaten sandwich. "There's no way. I mean, I'm not that powerful. Am I?"

The door creaked open and Jarvis poked his head in. "Sirs, the others were wondering if you would join them in the great room."

Teddy looked at his boyfriend questioningly, "Billy?"

"I'm fine. Just…just give me a moment, okay?" Jarvis nodded and left, but Tommy sped in before he could shut the door.

"Wow Bro! You've got all of the big guys scared," Tommy said.

"Tommy, not now," Billy replied.

"Oh come on. You can tell me. What'd you do?"

Teddy growled and snagged Tommy by the back of the collar. Picking him up bodily, he deposited the speedster outside.

"You ready to go face the music?" Teddy asked.

Billy stumbled out of bed and replied, "Might as well get it over with."

**XxxLine BreakxxX**

"Two-hundred–and-twenty-one," Warbird repeated drawing out each syllable. "You put 220 mercenaries and one civilian in a coma."

"A civilian?" Billy croaked. He felt a reassuring hand grip his shoulder and took a small amount of comfort in knowing Teddy was at his back. The Avengers—heroes that Billy had loved, idolized, and respected all his life—had just finished telling him about the House of M and the full extent of the Scarlet Witch's powers.

"You honestly think that my brother inherited all of Scarlet Witch's power?" Tommy asked. "Man, I feel like I got the short end of the stick."

"Not now Tommy," Eli chastised.

"We can't be sure yet," Iron Man replied. "We'd like him to stick around so that we can run a few tests."

Billy hung his head in shame not really hearing the rest of the discussion. He'd picked up on the fact that the Avengers wanted him to stay behind to run some tests, but his team was objecting of course. Finally, Billy just got fed up with pointless arguing. Turning to Warbird and Iron Man he nodded dumbly and returned to the guestroom.

Eli sputtered a bit when Billy left. "Looks like the kid has some sense after all," muttered Stark.

Kate affixed Stark with a dark glare and turned to Teddy. "Why don't you follow him? I'm sure he could really use a friend right now."

Teddy entered the guestroom to find Billy changing into civilian clothing. "I thought you were staying?" Teddy asked.

Billy continued changing without comment.

"Talk to me Billy," Teddy implored.

"I hurt a lot of people, Teddy. I put a civilian in a coma. You heard the Avengers. I'm a danger to everyone around me. I'm going someplace with fewer people. But first…first I'm going to the hospital to see if there's anything I can do for that girl in the hospital."

Teddy lifted a finger to brush the tears from Billy's cheeks. "You're not going anywhere without me. We'll go to the hospital together. I'm sure you'll find a way to help her and then we'll come up with a plan _together_."

Billy nodded and chanted, "We want to go to New York-Presbyterian. We want to go to New York-Presbyterian…"

Teddy barely had time to adjust to his new surroundings when he heard a series of feminine screams. Looking around he realized that Billy had teleported them into a ladies locker room. It must be close to shift change because there were several female interns in varying states of undress. Teddy quickly grabbed Billy by the elbow and ushered him out the door. "I am sooo sorry ladies. You _really_ need to work on being more specific."

Teddy and Billy rushed to the nearest stairwell. "Come on. We'll go up a floor or two and then find an elevator, but we need to get out of here before security shows up."

The boys reached the lobby only slightly out of breath. They approached a bored looking receptionist wearing pixie scrubs and filing her nails. Teddy turned on the charm as he approached the woman, "Ma'am we're looking for the girl who was brought in with the terrorists this morning. She was comatose I believe."

Pixie lady gave them an annoyed look, "Name."

"Teddy Altman. This is my friend Billy."

Pixie lady glared, "The _patient's_ name?"

"We don't know, Ma'am," Billy answered.

"Sirs, unless your family, I can't help you," she replied and then returned to filing her nails.

The boys walked off. "Now what do you want to do?" Teddy asked.

"I bet the Avengers have these kinds of problems," Billy muttered.

"That's it," Teddy replied and hauled Billy into the men's room. He checked to make sure all of the stalls were empty and then transformed to look like Captain America. "What do you think?"

Billy laughed, "I want to look like Dr. Strange. I want to look like Dr. Strange…" Teddy raised a quizzical eyebrow as Billy transformed. "What? If we have to, I can mimic a lot of his powers."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. You may look like him but you don't sound like him. Let me do the talking, alright?"

Billy nodded, "Let's go." The boys left and Teddy approached a bubbly blonde receptionist on the opposite side of the desk from pixie lady. The receptionist straightened and pulled out a compact mirror to check her make-up as 'Captain America' approached the desk.

The receptionist smiled revealing perfect white teeth. "How can I help you sirs?" she inquired.

Teddy answered, "We're looking for the girl from this morning's terrorist attack, the civilian who was brought in comatose."

"One moment please," she replied, still smiling. She punched a few numbers into the phone and started talking with one of the nurses' stations. As the conversation continued her smile started slipping. Billy shifted nervously from foot to foot. Finally, she covered the mouthpiece and turned back to Teddy. "I'm sorry Sir, but she's gone. She woke up and left without being officially discharged. If you'd like, Nurse Bickle was in charge of that floor; you can talk with her."

"We'd appreciate that Ma'am," Teddy replied.

"Take that elevator to the fifth floor," she replied pointing. "Nurse Bickle will meet you outside the elevator banks."

Billy and Teddy were greeted by a motherly looking woman with mousy brown hair. "I'm sorry that we weren't able to detain her. As far as we could tell, she was a runaway. We couldn't find any form of ID. We ran her picture through the missing persons' database, but so far we haven't gotten any hits." She walked with them back to the nurses' station where she pulled a piece of paper off of the printer. "This is all we really have on her," she said handing the paper to Teddy. "She left before we could ask her any questions."

The paper showed a slight teenage girl with dull, disheveled black hair and startling blue eyes. The paper described her as being approximately 16 years old, 98 lbs (1), and 5' 1".

"Thank you, Ma'am. You've been very helpful. Can we keep this?" Teddy asked holding up the paper. The nurse nodded and Teddy thanked her again and he and Billy left.

"Can you find her with this?" Teddy asked as they entered a restroom to transform.

"Shouldn't be a problem," Billy answered.

**XxxLine BreakxxX**

The boys found the teen laying on a bench in a secluded corner of Central Park. They had decided to approach the girl in costume; Wiccan cleared his throat from a short distance away. The girl jumped to her feet instantly and took up a fighting stance. Seeing the costumes she lowered her hands slightly, but remained wary.

"Young Avengers, right? How did you guys find me?" she asked defensively.

Hulkling handed her the sheet of paper Nurse Bickle had given them. The girl snorted, "Not my best pic, huh?" Hulkling shrugged noncommittally. "Doesn't matter, the search won't come up with anything. No one's actually looking for me."

"Surely there's someone that missing you?" Wiccan asked. "Your parents?"

"Never had any," she replied. "I'm Dani by the way. Hulkling and Asgardian, right?"

"I go by Wiccan now," Billy answered. He thought Dani's comment about her parents was odd, but he'd heard stranger and he really wanted to help the girl.

"What are you two doing out here?" called a voice from above. "Carol, I found them," Iron Man said into a device on his gauntlet.

Teddy placed himself between Billy and Iron Man. "We wanted to help the civilian girl Billy knocked out," Teddy replied.

"Is this her?" Iron Man asked. Billy and Teddy nodded. Iron Man looked over the small malnourished girl in thread bear clothing. "Why don't you come back to the tower with us? There's plenty of hot water, clean beds, and Jarvis will fix you something to eat."

Dani wanted to refuse but her stomach took that moment to let out an angry sounding growl. She simply nodded, "Thanks."

"I expect to find you in the tower when I get back," Iron Man said staring pointedly at Billy and then took off skyward.

"Come on, Dani. We want to go to Stark Tower. We want to go to Stark Tower…"

**XxxLine BreakxxX**

_Healthy body weight for a 5' 1" woman with a medium frame is 112-123. Dani is very underweight._

_Next chapter, Dani's Story_

_Until next time, thank you for reading and please review._


	3. Dani's Story

_I've rewritten this chapter more times than I can count. I'm not very skilled at writing angst. I promise the next chapter will have a much lighter tone, but I feel it's important to establish what things have been like for Dani over the past couple of years._

_Dedicated to Bookwormrdd and Riqis Inna Sunja._

**Chapter Three: Dani's Story**

Dani cautiously walked the corridors of Stark Towers. _"I feel like a princess in some fairytale," _Dani mused. _"Night before last, I was sleeping on a bench in Central Park. This morning, I woke up in_ _a mansion."_ Well, technically it wasn't the Avengers _Mansion_, but like all of Tony Stark's residences it was still pretty swanky.

"You're awake," said a very proper older gentleman holding a serving tray. "Enjoying your visit to Avengers headquarters Miss…"

"Danielle. Well, everyone calls me Dani," Dani replied shuffling her feet. "At least, they used to," she muttered.

The gentleman raised an eyebrow and replied, "Well Miss Dani, my name is Jarvis. If you need anything you can use the intercom system to contact me. I imagine Mr. Stark will want to speak with you when he wakes, which I wouldn't expect to be any time before noon. Some of our other residents take great value in their privacy, so you will find that the upper floors are locked."

Dani nodded. It seemed perfectly reasonable that the heroes that called the tower home would want to keep their identities secret.

"Good," Jarvis replied, sounding pleased. "Feel free to explore the lower floors. The kitchen is down the hall and to the right. I'll have breakfast ready in about an hour."

Dani's stomach growled in response. "Thank you, Sir."

"Not _Sir, _just Jarvis," Jarvis corrected. "There are some paintings two rooms down if you want to kill some time."

"Thank you, _Jarvis_," Dani replied and headed in the indicated direction. As Dani wandered she found her thought returning to the day before.

Dani had been out walking dogs when the chaos had started. Dani had found a small community just outside of Central Park to settle down in for a while. The area was primarily condos and apartments for the city's single working class denizens. Dani found that she could make decent money as a dog walker. Before her arrival, there was a small group of dog walkers taking advantage of the residents. They charged prices that could only be described as "highway robbery." Dani had moved in a mere two weeks ago, but she now had twenty regular customers because she was willing to work for less.

As it turns out, it's very hard for a clone to find a job. Dani had just turned sixteen and she had no permanent address, family, job history, ID, driver's license, or social security number. Potential employers refused to hire a "runaway." So yeah, she was basically screwed.

"_Runaway._" The thought made Dani laugh. The term implied that she had something to run away from. What did she have really? Vlad? No, the scum would have her lying dead on an examination table ready for autopsy. Danny? While she did care very deeply for her "cousin," he really didn't have much to offer her. It wouldn't take long for the Fentons to realize that Cousin Dani didn't really exist. Well maybe Jack wouldn't have, but Maddie surely would have. There was the Ghost Zone to consider, but the idea didn't really appeal to Dani. She'd spent some time there trying to control her powers. For one thing, it's very hard to find fresh, edible food in the Ghost Zone. For another, the Ghost Zone and its occupants seem almost stagnant. The ghosts go through their same routine day in and day out. Box Ghost tries to attack people with boxes, Lunch Lady always serves the same thing for lunch, Skulker hunts things… After a while it all became way too predictable.

Dani's thoughts were drawn back to the present as she reached the aforementioned room. The paintings Jarvis had mentioned were all of Avengers, current and former. She marveled as she traveled slowly through the gallery. These were _real_ heroes, like her cousin. For a short moment, Dani allowed herself to daydream. What would it be like, to be one of those heroes on the wall? The more Dani thought about it, the more impossible it seemed. After all, she was just a clone, a pale imitation of a real hero.

'_Heck I didn't even get all of his powers,'_ Dani thought. After Vlad had collected Danny's DNA sample, Danny began to develop new powers. Dani's powers had evolved along a different path. Instead of a ghostly wail, she gained empathic abilities, like Spectra's. She also gained control of fire, as opposed to ice.

It was her fledgling powers that drove her into the Ghost Zone for more than a year. Fire had proven to be more than she could handle alone. It didn't take long to track Ember to her lair; the tricky part was convincing Ember that Dani wasn't going to attack her like her cousin. After that, the two women became good friends. It was through Ember that Dani met Spectra and consequently learned to control her empathy as well.

Dani turned a corner and nearly ran into Wiccan. The young sorcerer was staring at a collection of paintings and Dani could feel sadness and regret rolling off of him in waves. Dani paused to look over Billy's shoulder and was surprised to find that the painting was of a young woman. Familiarity tugged at edges of Dani's subconscious, but she couldn't quite remember where she had seen the woman before.

Billy turned and looked at Dani questioningly. "Um, hi," Dani said and gave a small wave. "Billy right?"

"Uh, yeah," Billy answered. "But how did you?"

"Your friend called you that last night," Dani replied and gestured towards the painting. "Who is she?"

Billy smiled, "I really need to talk to him about _secret_ identities. She's my mom, Scarlet Witch. No one's been able to find her in five years." (1)

Jarvis called, announcing breakfast, and Billy turned and left. Dani looked back at the painting thoughtfully. Scarlet Witch was famous. It's possible that Dani simply recognized her from an old newscast or something, but Dani wasn't sure. Her eyes swept across the wall and she noticed a smaller painting of a much older Scarlet Witch. Dani leaned in carefully for a closer look. Now, she remembered where she'd seen Scarlet Witch. It had been two months ago on a visit to see Clockwork.

"_Have you been enjoying your stay in the Ghost Zone, Danielle?" Clockwork asked._

_Dani shrugged. She honestly had no idea why the old sage had called her to his realm, but every ghost knew that it was unwise to ignore a summons from Clockwork. "It's okay, I guess."_

_Clockwork nodded. "I'm sorry Danielle, but it's time that you returned to the human world."_

_Dani's mouth opened and closed like a fish's. "I don't see how that's your decision to make," she replied. Her hands were fisted and glowing green. "There is nothing waiting for me in the human world."_

_Clockwork sighed and called behind him, "Wanda, could you give me a hand?"_

_Scarlet Witch entered the room and spoke quietly with Clockwork. The sorceress nodded and Dani blacked out. The next thing the young halfa could remember is waking up in Central Park._

**XxxLine BreakxxX**

_House of M was published from 2005-2006. That's why I said that Scarlet Witch has been missing for five years._

_Thanks to anyone who's still reading this. I promise not to make you wait so long for the next chapter._

_Until next time, please REVIEW. I answer every review and they keep me motivated to finish stories._


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